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| United States Patent |
6,021,542
|
|
Norman
|
February 8, 2000
|
Self-cleaning hair brush
Abstract
Improved self-cleaning brushes (10, 44, 64) are provided which include a
brush body (12, 46, 66) having a bristle-supporting portion (16, 50, 70)
supporting outwardly extending bristles (18, 54, 72). One or more
apertured cleaning sheet(s) (36, 56, 76) are mounted on the brushes so as
to receive the bristles (18, 54, 72) therethrough. When it is desired to
clean the brush (10, 44, 64), the uppermost cleaning sheet (36, 56, 76) is
grasped and pulled outwardly and off of the bristles (18, 54, 72), thereby
removing hair and other debris from the bristles (18, 54, 72). Preferably,
a multiple sheet pad (20, 52, 74) of cleaning sheets (36, 56, 76) are
provided, each with perforation lines (38, 57, 80) and grasping tabs (42,
58, 78), to facilitate lift-off removal of the individual cleaning sheets
(36, 56, 76).
| Inventors:
|
Norman; Scott A. (10109 W. 126th Ter., Overland Park, KS 66213)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
086328 |
| Filed:
|
May 28, 1998 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
15/169; 15/160; 15/246; 119/628; 132/119 |
| Intern'l Class: |
A45D 024/40; A46B 017/06 |
| Field of Search: |
15/160,169,246
132/119
119/628
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
| 717377 | Dec., 1902 | Flanders | 15/246.
|
| 2529927 | Nov., 1950 | Fisk | 15/246.
|
| 4517703 | May., 1985 | Koke | 15/246.
|
| 4856541 | Aug., 1989 | Kellett et al. | 132/110.
|
| 5519912 | May., 1996 | Kawamura | 15/169.
|
| 5600865 | Feb., 1997 | Morrison | 15/169.
|
| 5862563 | Jan., 1999 | Hartmann | 15/169.
|
| 5890255 | Apr., 1999 | Robinson | 15/169.
|
| 5904150 | May., 1999 | Caristo et al. | 15/169.
|
Primary Examiner: Spisich; Mark
Assistant Examiner: Snider; Theresa T.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Hovey, Williams, Timmons & Collins
Claims
I claim:
1. A self-cleaning brush comprising:
an elongated body including a handle portion and a bristle-supporting
portion;
a plurality of spaced-apart bristles operatively coupled with said
bristle-supporting portion and extending outwardly therefrom;
a resilient pad comprising a plurality of individual, adjacent, apertured,
face-to-face oriented, flexible cleaning sheets receiving said bristles
therethrough and positioned on releasably engaging said bristle-supporting
portion of said body, said cleaning sheets being mounted for manual
lift-off removal of individual sheets from said bristle-supporting portion
for thereby removing hair or other foreign materials from said bristles;
and
an adhesive on at least one of the opposed faces of adjacent sheets of the
pad to cause the sheets to remain in place until manually sequentially
removed from the pad of sheets.
2. The brush of claim 1, each of said sheets presenting opposed upper and
lower surfaces, the lower surfaces of the sheets having said adhesive
applied thereto.
3. The brush of claim 1, each of said cleaning sheets having at least one
line of perforation therein to facilitate removal of the sheet from the
remainder of the sheets.
4. The brush of claim 1, each of said sheets of the pad including a tab
portion extending away from said bristles for permitting manual grasping
of a respective sheet for said lift-off removal thereof.
5. The brush of claim 1, said bristle-supporting portion comprising an
elongated, substantially cylindrical portion, said bristles operatively
coupled with said cylindrical portion and extending radially outwardly
therefrom.
6. The brush of claim 1, said bristles comprising elongated wire elements.
7. The brush of claim 1, said bristles comprising elongated, flexible
synthetic resin elements.
8. A self-cleaning brush comprising:
an elongated body including a handle portion and a bristle-supporting
portion;
a plurality of spaced-apart bristles operatively coupled with said
bristle-supporting portion and extending outwardly therefrom;
a plurality of individual, apertured, face-to-face oriented cleaning sheets
receiving said bristles therethrough and positioned proximal to said
bristle-supporting portion of said body, said cleaning sheets each being
mounted for individual manual lift-off removal thereof for thereby
removing hair or other foreign materials from said bristles; and
a retainer operably engaging said sheets for retaining the same in place
until said manual removal thereof.
9. The brush of claim 8, said retainer comprising wall structure for
engaging said sheets.
10. The brush of claim 8, said retainer comprising a shiftable clip
engaging portions of said sheets.
11. The brush of claim 8, each of said sheets presenting an outer and inner
face, the inner faces of the sheets having adhesive applied thereto.
12. The brush of claim 8, said bristle-supporting portion being elongated
and presenting a bristle-supporting face.
13. The brush of claim 8, said bristle-supporting portion being an
elongated, generally cylindrical portion, said bristles operatively
coupled to and extending radially from said cylindrical portion, said
sheets extending around said cylindrical portion.
14. The brush of claim 8, each of said cleaning sheets having at least one
line of perforation therein to facilitate removal of the sheet from the
remainder of the sheets.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with a self-cleaning brush which
allows the user to selectively and effectively clean the brush bristles
and other foreign matter which may collect between the bristles. More
particularly, the invention is concerned with such a brush and a method of
cleaning thereof, wherein the brush is provided with at least one, and
preferably a plurality of, apertured cleaning sheet(s) receiving the
bristles therethrough and positioned adjacent the brush body; the sheet(s)
are mounted for manual lift-off removal thereof from the brush body,
thereby removing hair and other foreign materials from the bristles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Brushes of various types such as hair brushes, lint brushes and pet brushes
suffer from the problem of cleaning hair and other foreign materials from
the brush bristles. That is, through continued use such brushes become
fouled with hair, lint and dirt, and must be periodically cleaned.
Generally, brushes are cleaned by placing them in water and/or by
application of a comb or other brush through the bristles to remove
foreign materials. As brush users will attest, such expedients often are
not fully effective.
There is accordingly a need in the art for an improved brush design which
can be readily cleaned by the user without the need for time-consuming and
difficult cleaning procedures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the problems outlined above and provides a
self-cleaning brush including an elongated body having a handle portion
and a bristle-supporting portion, with a plurality of spaced apart
bristles operatively coupled with the bristle-supporting portion and
extending outwardly therefrom. An apertured cleaning sheet is also
provided which receives bristles therethrough and is positioned proximal
to the bristle-supporting portion of the body; the cleaning sheet is
mounted for manual lift-off removal thereof from the bristle-supporting
portion for thereby removing hair or other foreign materials from the
bristles.
In alternate forms of the invention, a single cleaning sheet may be
provided, secured to the brush body by any convenient means such as hook
and loop Velcro material. More preferably, a pad of cleaning sheets is
provided with each sheet being oriented in face-to-face relationship. From
time to time as brush cleaning is required, the user need only strip the
uppermost cleaning sheet from the pad thereof, thereby removing foreign
material from the bristles. In this form of the invention, the individual
lift-off cleaning sheets preferably have adhesive applied to the
undersides thereof. Additionally, each of the sheets preferably has a tab
portion extending away from the bristles for facilitating manual grasping
of each sheet individual for lift-off removal thereof.
Brushes in accordance with the invention can be virtually any design or
style. That is, otherwise conventional hair brushes can be equipped with
the cleaning sheets of the invention, as can wire bristle pet brushes or
cylindrical brushes.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a hair brush in accordance with the invention,
equipped with a pad of cleaning sheets in accordance with the invention,
and illustrating removal of the topmost cleaning sheet from the pad;
FIG. 2 is a partial vertical sectional view of the brush illustrated in
FIG. 1, and depicting the design and orientation of the multiple cleaning
sheet pad;
FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2 and
further illustrating the construction of the improved brush of the
invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention, i.e.,
a wire bristle pet brush having the cleaning improvement of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side view of another style of brush, namely a
cylindrical hair brush, equipped with an annular pad of individually
removable cleaning sheets;
FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 5 and
illustrating the construction of the cylindrical brush and annular pad of
cleaning sheets; and
FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 5 and illustrating
the removable clip forming a part of the preferred cleaning pad designs.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Turning now to the drawings and particularly FIGS. 1-3, a hair brush 10 is
illustrated which broadly includes a brush body 12 having an elongated
handle portion 14 as well as a bristle-supporting portion 16. The portion
16 supports a plurality of spaced apart bristles 18, as well as a pad 20
of apertured cleaning sheets.
In more detail, it will be observed that the body 12 is an integral member
formed of any desired material such as a rigid synthetic resin. The handle
portion 14 is of convenient length to be readily grasped by the user. The
portion 16 includes a gently arcuate bottom wall 22, a pair of side
marginal, upstanding sidewalls 24 each terminating in an inwardly
extending flange 26 (FIG. 3) and a front wall 28. The sidewalls 24 and
front wall 28 cooperatively define a hollow region 30. It will further be
observed that the bottom wall 22 is provided with an arcuate depression 32
in the upper face thereof (FIG. 1) which leads to and communicates with
the region 30.
A resilient synthetic resin foam pad 34 is situated within the region 30
and has the side marginal edges thereof in engagement with the inner
surfaces of the sidewalls 24, so that the pad 34 assumes an arcuate
configuration in cross-section. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the pad 34 has
the bristles 18 secured thereto in the conventional manner, so that the
bristles 18 extend upwardly from the pad.
The cleaning sheet pad 20 is made up of a plurality of individual sheets 36
which are in face-to-face relationship with an uppermost sheet 36a. As
shown, each of the sheets 36 has a series of registered apertures, with
the bristles 18 extending upwardly through the sheets. It will also be
observed that the pad 20 is captively retained by the inturned flanges 26
extending along the lengths thereof. In order to facilitate sheet-by-sheet
removal of the cleaning sheets, the respective sheets each have a pair of
side marginal perforation lines 38 formed therein which extend along the
length of each sheet just inboard of the adjacent flange 26. In preferred
forms, the undersides of each of the sheets 36 has a conventional adhesive
40 applied thereto so that the sheets will remain in place until used.
Finally, each of the sheets preferably has a tab extension 42 extending
away from the bristles 18 and into the depression 32.
When it is desired to clean the brush 10, the user need only grasp the
topmost cleaning sheet 36a at the tab 42 thereof, followed by peeling of
this sheet along the length of the brush portion 16. As shown in FIG. 1,
this is readily accomplished owing to the presence of the side marginal
perforation lines 38. It will also be understood that as the topmost sheet
36a is removed, hair and other debris between the bristles 18 is likewise
removed, thereby leaving a clean brush for continued use.
The principles of the invention can be incorporated into a wide variety of
brush designs. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates a wire bristle brush 44
having an integral brush body 46 presenting a handle portion 48 and an
arcuate bristle-supporting portion 50. As in the case of brush 10, the
brush 44 is equipped with an apertured, multiple sheet cleaning pad 52
positioned with the wire bristles 54 extending therethrough. Each of the
cleaning sheets 56 of the pad 52 has an integral tab section 58 which
extends through an appropriate recess 60 in the brush portion 50;
additionally, the side margins of the sheets 56 have perforation lines 57.
A shiftable retainer clip 62 is mounted on the handle 48 as shown, and
overlies the tabs 58 of the cleaning sheets 56. In the cleaning of brush
44, the clip 62 is shifted so as to expose the topmost tab 58, whereupon
the user simply strips the uppermost cleaning sheet from the pad 52 along
perforation lines 57.
FIGS. 5-7 depict another type of brush 64, in this instance a cylindrical
hair brush. The brush 64 has a main body 66 presenting a handle 68 as well
as a cylindrical bristle-supporting portion 70. A series of spaced
bristles 72 are secured to the portion 70 and extend radially outwardly
therefrom. An annular, apertured, multiple sheet cleaning pad 74 is
positioned about the brush portion 70 as best illustrated in FIG. 6. The
pad 74 has a plurality of individual, annular cleaning sheets 76, with
each such sheet including a projecting tab 78 and an elongated perforation
line 80. As in the case of the previous embodiments, the annular sheets 76
have registered openings so as to receive the bristles 72. A removable
clip 82 is positioned over the tabs 78 so as to maintain these during
normal use of the brush. During cleaning operations, the clip 82 is
removed and the topmost tab 78 is grasped and lifted so as to separate the
outermost cleaning sheet 76 along the perforation line 80. This allows the
user to fully remove the cleaning sheet from the bristles, thereby
simultaneously removing all foreign material between such bristles. After
the cleaning operation, the clip 82 is then replaced.
It will thus be seen that the brushes of the present invention allow the
user to readily and effectively clean the brush bristles, all without the
troublesome cleaning steps characteristic of conventional brushes.
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